A study of incidence and factors determining the occurrence of surgical site infection in abdominal surgeries

ABSTRACT

Background: Surgical site infection (SSI) can be defined as infections which develops within 30 days after surgery involving the skin and subcutaneous tissue of the incision and/or the deep soft tissue and/or any part other than the incision handled during surgery. This study has been taken up to determine the incidence of SSI in abdominal surgery and to determine factors responsible for its occurrence.Methods: The study was conducted in Dr. D.Y. Patil Medical College, Hospital and Research Centre located in Pimpri, Pune between July 2017 to September 2019.It is a prospective longitudinal descriptive study. Information collected from the patients included patient’s age, gender, diabetes mellitus status, smoking status and haemoglobin and albumin levels.Results: Total 150 cases with abdominal operations were included in this study. Among them 29 patients developed SSI. Incidence of SSI among them was 19.3%. There was no significant difference among gender between both the groups. (p=0.172). Among 29 SSI cases, 10 (34.5%) had diabetes while 19 (65.5%) did not have diabetes. There was significant difference in diabetes status between both the groups (p=0.021). Patients having diabetes has more risk of getting SSI post operatively. Among 29 SSI cases, 8 (27.6%) were smokers while 21 (72.4%) were non-smokers.Conclusions: The incidence of SSI among cases underwent abdominal surgery was 19.3%. In our institute where most patients come from low economic state, poor hygiene and nutrition status, with current preoperative protocol for SSI prevention SSI rate is comparable to that of most developing countries.